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'His tap root was stronger and more tenacious than that of most of us':
Robert Semple, an Australian New Zealander
Carina Hickey*
Robert Semple is remembered as a leading New Zealand politician and a dominant figure in the labour movement between 1904 and 1954. However, Semple was an Australian by birth and always remained firmly attached to that country in a complex relationship – he was very much an 'Australian New Zealander'. Over the course of his public career Semple blurred his Australian roots, later in life deliberately reconstructing his father's convict past, treating it as a more conventional immigration story. His account of his decision to come to New Zealand was also later shaped by the requirement of gaining and holding of political power. He de-emphasised the radical context of his move to New Zealand. But Semple's origins were undeniably important to him. Whenever his health failed him he returned to Australia to rejuvenate himself. His life is a case study in the complex issue of national identity – while a proud New Zealander his grandchildren also remember him as an Australian who enjoyed singing Waltzing Matilda.
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| Prior to Australian federation in 1901 New Zealand was a part of a Tasman world loosely termed 'Australasia'. As historian James Belich suggested: 'until 1901 there was no such thing as a formal Australia; and to the extent that it existed informally, as Australasia or its variants, New Zealand was as much a part of it as any'.1 Within 'Australasia' the European population related to a number of imagined communities and identities centred on issues such as race and geography. A consequence of this, Belich argued, was that people could have more than one identity.2 After federation while some components of the Australia-New Zealand relationship diminished other connections persisted in areas such as unionism, radicalism and literature. James Bennett, in his study of the trans-Tasman labour movement, argued that the residue of the Tasman world survived long after 1901 particularly in the labour movement as the exchange of personnel, regular communication and mutual solidarity provided continuity and cohesion.3 Today, with many components of the Australia-New Zealand relationship flourishing it could be argued that the Tasman world is an ongoing entity and as a result many people on both sides of the Tasman have possessed dual identities. This article argues that labour movement figure Robert Semple was a classic product of the Tasman world in that he possessed two strong national identities – he was an Australian and a New Zealander. 'Waltzing Matilda', described as Semple's theme song, was played at a farewell function when he retired from Parliament.4 Therefore, it was no surprise that when he died the New Zealand Listener wrote: 'His tap root was stronger and more tenacious than that of most of us'.5 The notion of a two-fold identity as part of the community of experience in trans-Tasman labour history warrants investigation to tell us something about the issues faced by many trans-national individuals such as Semple. |
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